Ok, so you’ve decided to sell your existing home and move into a new space, we know what you’re thinking – why spend any money at all staging the house you’re trying to SELL, when you need all your cash for projects at the new house? Well, it turns out that spending a little money staging your home can actually save you a bundle.

Did you know that unstaged homes often sit on the market three times longer than staged homes? Wonder how much that extra time on the market costs? Well there’s actually a tool that can help! It’s called the staging calculator and just by entering some information about your monthly expenses, you can find out exactly how much it is costing you every month your property is on the market.  Go to  http://www.stagingsavings.com/stagingSavings.html to use the calculator and see how much you can save money by staging your home.

Convinced but have no idea how to stage your home? That’s where we come in! Visit us at our website thehomestylist.com and click on Services Offered or contact our design guru, Julie Dana, at julie@thehomestylist.com for the perfect home staging plan. And start thinking about what you’ll do at your new house with all that money you’ve saved (a gourmet kitchen…new furniture….a pool…..)!

At The Home Stylist, we love our pets. We can’t imagine our lives without these furry little guys to brighten our day and curl up with at night. However, we know that not everyone shares our love of animals. Either because of allergies or phobias, there are home buyers out there that are not interested in pet ownership. That’s why when we’re staging a home of a pet owner, we help them minimize any traces of their pets to increase the appeal of their home to all buyers.

So you can imagine our surprise when we found this photo while surfing the MLS recently.

At first glance we thought, hmm nice bed…wait a second, is that? No, it couldn’t be. But yes, this very shaggy (though very cute) guy appeared in not one but two of the photos of this home. Which is fine, if everyone looking at your home is a dog lover…but not everyone is. So please dear reader, when your realtor comes over to take photos for listing your home, make sure that beloved Fido is in the other room. It’ll increase your chances of enticing everyone, not just the dog lovers to buy your home.

Sometimes just changing out the flooring can have a huge impact on the "vibes" of the room.

Take this kitchen, the old fake parquet floor is not inspiring.

Change the flooring and suddenly the new kitchen inspired gourmet cooking.

Do you need some inspiration? Call Julie at (716) 912-1581

PS.  This recent client was so happy to see their new kitchen floor.

• New classic white toilet around $200
• A new sink dropped into place of the old: $200. 
• Paint for for the vanity cabinet $20

Now it is ready to style and make it fun!

If you need help shaving off decades, I will be glad to guide you. I also have resource of great painters, contractors and other tradespeople to help you if you are not a DIY guy/gal.

Julie

Somewhere in western New York, I have been hard at work helping to get a house ready for the market. I have been selecting paint colors, new carpeting, new flooring and new light fixtures. It is looking so GOOD!

Except for one thing….the curb appeal 

Try as I might, I cannot convince the owners to cut those bushes down. One long stroke of the chainsaw would improve that curb appeal by 100%.  I just don’t get it. Listen to your home stager – we provide an objective point of view.

Now that this photo is posted,  I have either convinced them or I’ll be fired – one or the other.

Julie

This video from Jon Steward’s The Daily Show.

It made me laugh so hard. I hope you too can have a sense of humor about the current housing crisis.  

 Home Crisis Intervention

 Julie